About this title: This up-to-date edition makes Euripides' most famous and influential play accessible to students of Greek reading their first tragedy as well as to more advanced students. The introduction analyzes Medea as a revenge-plot, evaluates the strands of motivation that lead to her tragic insistence on killing her own children, and assesses the potential ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780521644792ISBN:0521644798
Description: Very Good. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 124 p. Cambridge Translations from Greek Drama. Intended for a juvenile audience. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Free Press
Date Published: 2008-09-23
ISBN-13:9781416592235ISBN:1416592237
Description: Very good. Very minimal damage to the cover (no holes or tears, only minimal scuff marks), in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, minimal to no highlighting/under. read more
Edition: Softcover Edition
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr, West Nyack, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780521644792ISBN:0521644798
Description: New, Never Read, Rem. Small softcover, new, never read, rem. read more
Description: Like New. 2008-Hardcover-May contain minor shelf-wear. Otherwise, volume un-read and in "As-New" condition. -Used-Like New-Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
Description: Good. 1966, Paperback. Used-Good Hall Street Books Proudly ships all books from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours M-F. 100% Money-Back Guarantee and No-Worry return policy. read more
Description: Good. 1416592237 Standard used condition ie. These are good quality new books from the publisher with a bump, shelf wear, or some sunfading to outer edges of book. Has remainder mark. read more
"What is the saying? That Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?
Euripedes's Medea is one furious woman. The play picks up a few years after Jason has stolen and brought to Greece the great Golden Fleece, a trophy he would never have won without help from Medea, who was struck so blind by her love for Jason that she forsook her father and even murdered her brother in order to protect Jason on his adventure.
So Jason brought home the Fleece, and with him came Medea. That was several years ago. Now Jason has married another woman, the daughter of King Kreon of Corinthia, and Medea and her and Jason's children have been banished in case they should complicate the lives of the newlyweds. Jason of course blames this banishment on Medea, insisting that if she weren't so obsessed with "pleasure in the bed" she would see that he was making a smart decision, that she would be proud of his moving up in the world, and that she would stop causing such a ruckus.
Medea certainly has reason to be angry, and the joy (is that the right word?) of this play is in watching her scheme to exact her revenge upon the people she feels responsible for her unhappiness. Euripedes writes for her some killer lines that skewer Jason and the overall male-female power dynamic that keeps even clever women like Medea subservient to oafish men. "I would very much rather stand / Three times in the front of battle than bear one child. / Yet what applies to me does not apply to you." Words such as these are startlingly progressive in play written some 2400 years ago.
I'd like to write a bit about the conclusion, which takes a bit of a supernatural twist and turns into something of a bloodbath a lá Sweeney Todd. But because I think you should read this play -- now! -- I'll hold back.
Why don't we teach Euripedes in high school? I should not be twenty-six years old and reading Medea for the first time."
"I want to know where I can get my hands on that dress and coronet. That, or how to become Circe's niece. Either one works for me. Medea did seem a little... cracked, but when you have poisons that catch people on fire, I think you can be as crazy as you want. Stupid Jason shouldn't have left her. Silly boy."
"Jason and Medea... Now that's a match made in hell. After journeying with her husband for years and assisting him in his quests (sometimes in decidedly treacherous ways), Medea is betrayed by him when he decides to divorce her and marry a princess. The struggle that ensues is as compelling as it is horrifying. I found myself sympathizing with Medea's outrage, while at the same time knowing that her actions were reprehensible. The play raises interesting questions about women and men, family, social rank, and vengeance."
"Another book I won't bother to really review. (Although, when do I ever really review?) I read this in ancient Greek and then I read it in the Morwood translations as well as Ways in Loeb and two more that I can't remember. Somewhat dissatisfied with all translations, but that is the way of it. Interesting moments - Medea's motives for killing her children (shame; revenge; protection), the Women of Corinth speech (the quiet foot; "of everything that is alive and has a mind, we women are the most wretched creatures," lines 230-1; 7, Morwood); "We have woes--we don't need woes;" "I would rather stand in battle three times than bear one child;" ktl ktl ktl."
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